Majolica pharmacy jar

This work by a Ligurian artist, probably Genoese, is part of a collection of 45 works bequeathed by Ison to 10 public collections.

Ison was trained as an architect and later became an architectural historian: his passion for classical architecture was reflected in his books on Georgian Buildings of Bath and his work as Architectural editor for the ongoing series 'Survey of London' which he worked on between 1957 and 1970.

Nominally inspired by Lucretius' De rerum natura, Piero di Cosimo's The Forest Fire takes its scientific subject and embellishes it with fantastical creatures from the artist's imagination: Bulls, bears, lions and deer-like creatures with human faces all flee wearily from a fire.

Rubens' portrait of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel dates from about 1629. The Earl was a great collector, and Rubens had painted the earl's wife a few years earlier on a visit to Antwerp. This drawing in pen and ink with a chalk base is unusually informal, reflecting perhaps the comfortable relationship between artist and patron.